Sometimes, life circumstances can have the worst timing, but people mistreating you when you’re most vulnerable can make things even worse. That said, a man had recently achieved his dream job as a data specialist at a local company on the South Coast of Massachusetts. To his dismay, he discovered he had cancer on the same week he was hired. For transparency’s sake, he ended up telling his boss about his condition and the treatment he would be undergoing to cure it. She told him not to worry, only to later fire him behind his back without any warning.
“Don’t worry, you can take whatever time off you need,” the boss initially told the Massachusetts employee. “Just take care of yourself, your job will not be affected by this condition. You’re great at your job and we love you here!” This unexpected response put the man at ease about his job security while he was getting treatment. However, she called him into her office a few weeks later to tell him that the company would “pause his employment” until his chemotherapy was over.
He then applied for disability insurance through SSA but would need his boss’s letter to prove he was on medical leave. Instead, she sent him a letter of termination along with a demand that he return any “merchandise associated branding back to the office.” He emailed her twice, pleading whether he would still be able to have his position once the chemo was over. But she refused, saying there’s a chance a different opening would be available come September. Needless to say, the Massachusetts man was devasted by this tragic development.
“How it feels is that my old boss said I didn’t have to worry about losing my job, told me to leave and that we’d pause my employment, then fired me without me knowing and now I have no benefits aside from health insurance to pay for chemo.”
With nothing else to lose, the man sought advice for his situation on the internet, specifically on Reddit. Unfortunately, things aren’t looking so hopeful regarding the possibility of him receiving Family Medical Leave from the company that fired him. “You hadn’t been employed for a year, you weren’t eligible,” the top commenter bluntly remarks. “You could get an attorney to sue for ADA, which would be a long drawn out process,” another adds. With that in mind, it might be better to focus on cancer treatment and recovery unless he wants to add more stress to his plate.
Whatever the case, the employer was certainly a scumbag for giving the man false hope and then firing him behind his back. However, a business is a business, and the need for a data specialist was probably of high priority at the company. If the man couldn’t work, then a replacement had to be found, cancer or not.
